The Mouse Ears are Real
by Oparu
Summary: Jemma, Skye, May and Coulson go undercover in Disneyland because Jemma needs practice and they're all tired and maybe sometimes it's just nice to do something a little silly. (Skimmons and Philinda fluff)


"They're in the gift shop?" Jemma asks, staring at Skye.

"M-" Skye swallows the first syllable. "Mom-" she corrects herself, "wants mouse ears."

"Your mother wants mouse ears?" Jemma repeats. "Your mother."

"Yeah, she did. She said this was a once in a lifetime opportunity." Skye rolls her eyes and it actually does resemble May in a way that's almost familial.

They're not even on a real mission. Disneyland has no oh-eight-fours hiding in the bushes. There's no enemy agents waiting for them. She asked, and maybe it was a stupid thing to ask, but she's so terrible at being undercover. It's just so hard to pretend to be someone else and even with all the planning in the world she's just not good at it. So, Coulson gave her the day to practice. He and May are Nate and Stephanie Rogers (Coulson picked the names and May's not going to let him forget it), Skye is Maggie Rogers, their daughter and Jemma is Antonia, Skye's girlfriend. It's been so long since she engaged in any kind of dating at all that it's hard to even base pretending to date Skye (Maggie) on real life.

Coulson- Nate- thinks feigning intimacy is an important skill. May agreed with him even though she hates undercover more than Jemma does, which she can't figure out at all because May's really good at it.

So good that she comes out of the gift shop with mouse ears perched on her head and ice cream in her hand. Coulson has his own set but they don't look that out of place on him. He's not May. He's not the Cavalry. May's one of the deadliest people Jemma has ever met and she has mouse ears on her head, a huge grin on her face and chocolate ice cream on her chin.

Jemma can't stop staring. She's not sure what Antonia's impression is of Stephanie, Steph, but hopefully staring in total shock will work.

"Do you want ears?" Skye teases. "I can get you some ears."

"No, no."

"Oh, come on, they're fun," May says, but she's not May. She's some other woman with a smile that creeps all the way up to her eyes and ice cream on her chin.

"Sweetheart, you've got-" Coulson kisses her, taking the ice cream off her face with his mouth.

It's incredibly romantic, intimate, and if she didn't know them both, she'd believe these other versions of them. Nate's a glasses-wearing book publisher, who can speak at great length about the different types of paper and typography. Steph liaises with the artists, sorting out the cover art, and sorts out the contracts with the talent. They were work together, have for years. They met in university, married just after graduation in a small ceremony in a park, and Maggie was born just over two years later. Maggie spent her entire life, loved and supported by her parents. They dropped her off at her first day of school, went to her high school graduation, and must have driven her to university.

Where Maggie, a brilliant IT technician working for computer services, sorted out the fussy computer system of Antonia Starke, a visiting PhD student, and then they had coffee (she had tea). Eventually they had wine, and dinner, and now they're close enough to go together to Disneyland for Maggie's parents twenty-fifth anniversary. She's not sure if it was difficult for Maggie to come out to her parents, but she likes to imagine they were completely supportive. Maybe they made her a cake, or took her out to a gay bar together.

Antonia's own parents were much like Jemma's, quietly accepting because they're modern, middle class liberals who are much more concerned about Antonia's happiness and the difficulties of dating an American than her choosing an label for herself.

She holds Skye's, Maggie's, hand and tries not to stare while more ice cream ends up on Steph's face. She protests, of course, that the ice cream's too melty and it's the sun.

Nate says she's clumsy, and that it's adorable.

They join the queue for one of the rides. It's quite long so Nate and Steph will have plenty of time to finish their ice cream, even if they are constantly distracted by kissing each other. Is she supposed to kiss Skye? Is that part of their cover? The two of them are really good at watching-not-watching Maggie's parents be adorable with each other. Antonia does like them very much, Jemma decides. In fact, that must be why they're here together. She and Maggie have been together for years now, they're very happy. Antonia's about to finish her post-doctoral placement and she'll have to move to another university, somewhere else, and she'll want Maggie to come with her.

It's half-way through the queue for the Tower of Terror that Jemma realises that Antonia must be about to propose to Maggie. It would make sense. Piggybacked on Maggie's loving parents' romantic trip, somewhere special to Maggie like Disneyland. She doesn't have a ring, and she would, so she'll have to come up with something. Improvisation is never a good idea, but if she'd had more time she could have one. Maybe she should get one.

They get closer and closer to the front of the queue and the hotel hovers over them.

"What is this ride again?" May asks.

"The Tower of Terror," Coulson replies, leaning over towards her so their ears touch. "Sounds fine."

"I'm afraid of heights," she reminds him.

She looks it. May, who's afraid of nothing, who flies planes, stares down guns, looks up at the perfectly safe ride that looms over them as if it's the most frightening thing she's ever been about to do.

"So they're just going to drop us?" she asks, looking at Skye for help.

"Not drop, Mom, we'll be strapped in. It'll be perfectly safe."

"Strapped to a haunted elevator-"

"It's not really haunted," Skye promises.

"It says it's haunted right there."

"It's a theme park, Mom. They're trying to create an atmosphere."

May winds her arm tighter around Coulson's. "It's working."

"It'll be fine. You can sit between us. We'll keep you safe."

"From ghosts?"

"From anything that scares you."

May lets go of Coulson to grab Skye's shoulders. "Such a sweet girl. You must get that from your father."

"I didn't get it from you," Skye says, rolling her eyes.

May hugs her and Skye melts into it because she's never had a mother. No one's ever rubbed her hair, or told her how much she looked like her father, or kissed her forehead and told her how wonderful she was. Jemma can call home and her parents will talk about her good points and how wonderful she is. They'll be supportive and they'll love her because they're her parents. She can't imagine life without them, but Skye's had that. She's been alone all of her life but today, she has parents. They're pretending, of course, but there's truth in the way they look at her. May's hugging her in character. Coulson whispers behind May's head to Skye that she's going to scream the whole way down. He grins at her like a father, not because he's pretending to be her father, but because he loves her that way.

It's one day, and it's a day full of half-truths and pretending to be people they're not, but beneath it all of that, Skye gets to have a mom and dad, even if it's just one silly day at Disneyland. Jemma gets to have a girlfriend that she's really fond of and can kind of imagine proposing to and spending the rest of her life with, even if it's just in her head and she doesn't have a ring and none of it's actually happening.

Coulson and May get to hold hands and kiss like they've actually been together for twenty-five years and it's so cute it's almost painful because they look so happy. Maybe it wouldn't work in their real lives, maybe none of them can have what they want.

They file through the last part of the queue and they'll be the next group to get on the haunted elevator. Jemma has no idea how she does it, but May actually appears frightened. Her knuckles are white as she grabs Skye's hand. She has Coulson's body between herself and the elevator. Her breathing's rapid, she keeps looking around as if something's about to happen. Why does she hate undercover if she's so good at it? Jemma can't imagine hating anything she's good at because she tends to only do those things unless she's under extreme duress. Antonia, luckily, has no fear of falling from heights, and after falling from an airplane without a chute, it's nearly impossible to be afraid of something that must have been safety checked so many times.

They'll be fine.

May hesitates to even get onto the ride. Skye rolls her eyes and promises she'll be safe the whole time. They'll hold hands. Skye won't say anything if she screams the whole way.

She's never got to do that either, Jemma realises as she buckles herself in. Skye's never had anyone to take care of. No one who believes her when she tells them everything's going to be all right. No one to return the bright smiles Skye always has, and her bottomless affection for people. She's been alone. Jemma doesn't want her to be alone. She wants to hug her tight and explain that she's the one of the best people Jemma's ever met and that if she ever has to pretend to propose to someone, she really wants it to be her, and-

The elevator starts going up. May squeezes her eyes tight and grabs Coulson's and Skye's hands so tight that both of them wince. Coulson beams at her when she's not looking, because he loves her. She's wondered if that was just part of the act, but he's just him now. He's not being Nate. He is absolutely in love with May, even when she's being as far from herself as she could possibly be. That's what love looks like on a face. She's seen it when her parents look at each other.

Skye grins at her in the last moment before the elevator drops. There's something there. Something Jemma didn't see because she's so terrible with people. She leans over and kisses Skye, because she's in character and her character definitely wanted to have her mouth pressed against Skye's when the elevator dropped them towards the earth.

May screams, Coulson laughs and Skye lets her keep kissing. She didn't plan the kiss. She wasn't sure she could pretend to be in love as easily as May and Coulson can. When the elevator deposits them back on solid ground, May's shaking her head and swearing she'll never do that again and Skye's just looking at Jemma.

It's a look she knows.


End file.
